Doctor Who?

One of the drawbacks to being flexible to God’s leading and direction in life is in the arena of health care.  I remember when I was a Youth Pastor at First Baptist Church of West Seneca, NY, a suburb of Buffalo, that I had two excellent docotors - O’Conner and Massardri.  They knew me well and took time to talk with me about my health and made recommendations regarding exercise and diet.  Whenever I had an appointment they knew me by name and were very attentive to my needs.

Then I moved to Michigan where I took my family to my old family practitioner, Dr. Oneil.  Now, Dr. Oneil was a fixture in the Clarkston community and very respected as a doctor, so his offices were always jam packed with people.  He looked like Santa but his normal mode of opperation was to walk into your room already writing the perscription.  I guess, as a doctor, you know the usual sicknesses that are going around.  But the problem wasn’t that he wasn’t nice, he was always very nice, but if he stayed in the room long enough you might muster up enough courage to ask him a question.  It became rather frustrating for us so we looked around for a new Family Practitioner.

Then we found Dr. Patel.  He was from South Africa, but you would think that he was from India.  He spoke with an Indian outfit and we would all snicker after he asked us, “Has there been any bomating.”  But, with Dr. Patel, he took an interest in our family.  When I would see him he would ask about the rest of the family and send his greetings.  I always felt comfortable getting his advice and felt that his referrals were worth considering.  My kids loved him and, although going to the doctor was never a joy-ride, they were thankful that they were under such good care.

So, when God called me to California Dr. Patel was one luxury that we all had to give up.  In stead we were introduced to Kaiser Permenente.  Now, I do have a doctor assigned to me, but I really don’t get the feeling that he really wants to get to know me and my family.  It isn’t that they don’t do good work, its just that you feel like an insurance number rather than an individual.  Now, in my opinion that’s just too bad.  We have warehoused family healthcare and are slowly abandoning the personal touch which is needed.

Now, imagine if Jesus was like your doctor, that you were just a number and that you had to make an appointment, possibly get Him if he were available.  Seriously, whom would you want to be looking after your soul?  Would you want Him to know you intimately, to remember your family, your health care history and to teach you how to prepare and avoid some of the many problems that you will likely face?  Or, maybe you would prefer the lottery system, where you might get Him if you are lucky?

Well, of course you want the more intimate Jesus.  Thankfully we don’t have to stand in any spiritual health lines, or go to three different departments to get blood work or a perscription filled.  No, we have Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves, who truly cares for our souls, who looks out for us.  Even when you move He is one who you can take with you - He will always be faithful to you…

So, why not make an appointment with Him.  You can sit in the well or the sick room, it doesn’t matter.

Persecution in Orissa, India.

With our connections through Sisters in service we are aware that persecution of Christians in Orissa is on the rise.

Please pray for believers that are suffering from the ongoing attacks in the state of Orissa. All of our partner ministries have trained leaders, families and churches that have been destroyed, many are in hiding.

“We are very much afraid of the situation. We can’t move out from house for number of days. Sir kindly come and rescue us” from Smita, 23 years old, WEMOS team leader Orissa.

“Following the killing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Swami Lakshmananda, the death toll continues to rise. Christians are not responsible for the killing of Swami, however the Christians became easy target for the fanatics to attack and kill. It is just as Nero blamed Christians for the great fire of Rome, VHP and Bajrangdal activists torch churches for the killing” reports Dr. Selva Raj.

“The fundamentalist groups are going from village to village destroying Churches, burning houses, attacking and killing Christians. It is reported that thousands of extremists have been brought from Gujarat and Chhattisgarh to perpetrate this violence which has spread to all the districts of Orissa. Their agenda is to wipe out Christians and Christianity from India starting from Orissa.” Thousands have been driven from their homes, many have already been killed and several others are hiding in jungles or the safe places for fear of being beaten, arrested or killed. Some have even been burned alive, others arrested. Well over 500 churches and 1000’s of believer’s homes have been burned to the ground. All of this is after the attack of December 2007 where many of these in this state had already been suffering without shelter or livelihood.

“Christian community is saddened by the response of the Government so far to tackle the situation in Orissa that has become the boiling pot of crooked political agendas of the Sangh Parivar.”

The situation is tense. “The work is extensive and spread out and we are widely separated from each other …..(but) our God will be fight for us” Nehemiah 4:19,20. Please pray.

“I’m Not Perfect”

“I’m not perfect!”

Have you ever said that to someone?  It usually comes out when you are confronted on some level and have failed to perform as you were supposed to or when you neglected to keep a promise.  Fill in the blank, we’ve all said it, thought it, and plenty of people have said it to us…

Well, it “is” true.  We are not perfect, we who have embraced Christ as our Lord and Savior still struggle with the sin and the sinful habits that we bring into our walk with Him.  We all relate to Paul’s…

“the things I want to do I don’t do; and the things I do, I don’t want to do”

…and too often we claim them as an escape clause for our own known sinfulness.  We are horrified by who we are at times, and we don’t like people showing us the truth, so we rationalize in a defensive mode and salve our consciences saying, well “I’m not perfect.”

Well, there it is.  Who can argue with Biblical Theology…Hmmmm….

Imagine for a moment, a thief standing before a judge, and when the prosecutor explains that this man broke into six homes in your neighborhood specifically stealing candle-sticks and the Judge turns to the man and says, “Sir, what do you have to say for yourself?”  The man with full confidence says, “Judge, it is as the prosecutor says, but remember, I’m not perfect.”  Now, that should do it.  At this point you might expect the Judge to dismiss the case.  How can he argue with such truth.

Let’s change the scenario a little.  In stead of this man saying “I’m not perfect” let’s imagine that his lawyer stands up and says something much more refined.  We all know that the thief is imperfect, but what if we can explain that imperfection?  So, here it goes.  “Judge, it is true that the defendant broke into six homes and stole a total of 22 assorted candle-sticks.  I am not here to dispute his actions only to present to the court that this man is suffering from an acute case of candle-mania disorder which compels him to these actions.”  Now, of course the Judge’s eyebrows are raised and he is thinking, “Oh, so there is a viable reason for this man’s actions.”

Now, let’s think through this from a Biblical perspective.

Are we imperfect? Yes!  The Scriptures are full of instructions to believers who are struggling with sin (Ephesians 4:17-24, 1 John 1:9 - just to mention a couple).

How does Scripture describe our imperfections? A number of words are used: Sin, Transgression, Iniquity, Doubt, Doubleminded, etc.

What does God do with our imperfections? Well, when Jesus died on the cross our imperfections (based on the above definitions) were paid for and covered, so that when we embraced Christ as our Lord and Savior, we were covered and clothed in His righteousness.  In other words, our imperfections were not held against us any more for salvation.  No, God’s’ grace has showered on us and we have the security that our sin is cast as far as the east is from the west.

It is true that we are not perfect, but we don’t have the freedom to hide behind our imperfection or to excuse our thoughts or actions.  We must embrace ourselves as imperfect beings, clothed in Christ’s righteousness, still needing His ongoing grace in our lives that drives us to deliberately take our imperfections to the cross on a daily basis.

The extreme examples I gave earlier are our battle every day in seed form.  Let us learn to turn to the Savior rather than stubbornly excuse ourselves.

Yes, we are imperfect, we sin, we transgress, and we need to take all that to the cross every day, be reconciled to Him and grow in ways so that we won’t continue in our imperfection…echem, sin.

Ponder the words of the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 4…

22that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

We have some work to do, don’t we…

Solomon Loved the Lord

Last week as I was walking through Matthew 19:23-24 where we are told about the difficulty of a camel walking through the eye of a needle I was drawn by a cross reference to 1 Kings 3:1-14.  In this passage we read about King Solomon, how he marries a daughter of Pharaoh - the beginning, sad to say, of a number of political marriages that would prove difficult in the years to come.

Then we read vs. 3…

³Now Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father David, except he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

Doesn’t that verse strike you as a little odd.  It begins well, telling us that Solomon loved the LORD and showed it by walking in the statutes of his father David.  Then, we are hit with a statement that, for some, is quite controversial.  The verse specifically says, “except he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.”

Now, it seems to me that the structure of the words in the text leads us to believe that Solomon struggled along with other Israelites (vs. 2) who, just like their ancestors during the time of the Judges, were worshiping Jehovah on the high places - the places where the Canaanites had worshiped their gods.  It is possible, based on vs. 2 that their worship of God on the high places had simply become the convenient location.  However, later on in Leviticus we will see that such worship, even to the One True God was prohibited.

So, is this a potential flaw in Solomon’s life.  Many, if not most, Biblical scholars and commentators suggest so, even though it may be much more of a cultural thing, than a personal rebellion against God.  So, for our purposes today, let’s recognize it as such.

Having said that, doesn’t vs. 3 still seem odd to you?  Here is Solomon loving the LORD and pursuing a walk with God that is just like his father David, whom we are told was a man after God’s own heart.  Yet, he is flawed, imperfect and sinful.

Then, God comes to Solomon in a dream telling him, “ask what you wish Me to give you.”  Solomon responds by praising God for his lovingkindness followed by his request…

“give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil.”

Now, unlike man’s typical list of requests - money, power, love, long life a foot-long chili dog with curly fries - he opts for understanding and discernment, which will truly be critically effective in his role as king.  The LORD commends Solomon for his request and promises that He will give him what he has asked as well as what he hadn’t asked for - discernment + riches & honor.

Now I reflect on all of these things and ask myself this question, “How is it that God is willing to be so gracious to Solomon, especially when Solomon is habitually failing to please God in the high places?”

Now, my answer may come as a bit of a shock to you - because He is a God of grace, patience, longsuffering, etc.  He is willing to work with Solomon…  And, add to that, He is willing to work with us!

You see, what God ultimately cares about in the general sense, is that your arrow is pointing in the right direction - toward Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.  When Jesus drew us to Himself all the realities of the Gospel were showered on us - the promise of eternal life, the security of being in Him, the knowledge that we are considered holy because we are covered with the righteousness of Christ, the freedom to not sin and be enslaved to sin again, and the present active ministry of the Holy Spirit to name a few.

So, in one sense it is true for us to say, “I am perfect, complete and holy” because of what Jesus has done on the cross - paying for my past, present and future sins.  In another sense, however, we know that we are not in practice what we truly are positionally in Christ.  Or, to put it another way “we are to be progressively pursuing a holiness (our Practice) that moves us closer to what I am in Christ - holy (our Position).

O.K. well, I say all that to help draw out some helpful conclusions from this text:

1. We should always be careful that we don’t become one sin junkies, i.e. always viewing people through their one, ongoing sin, rather than the orientation of their arrow. It is so easy to do, isn’t it.  We are so naturally drawn to other people’s flaws, and so quickly measure their total character by them.  Now, this is not to ignore the sin, but it is allowing love to cover it - which is another way of saying, “Be patient to lovingly tolerate that sin so that you don’t discourage the orientation of their spiritual arrow.”  It may be helpful here to quote to common saying, “Please be patient with me, God is not through with me yet.”  By no means are we to excuse the sin, but rather, we can encourage the direction of the arrow rather than discourage it.

2.  We should take note that although Solomon, like the people, offered sacrifices on the high places, his disobedient, but socially and culturally acceptable, activity would have lasting effects on his role as King and His walk with God. This is where the rubber meets the road.  There comes a time when we cannot allow “love covering a multitude of sins” to continue.  We must seek discernment to know when to remove the covering and deal directly with the sin.  Much is at stake if it is ignored, and, in Solomon’s case, his capitulation to his many pagan wives regarding their pagan worship grows out of this choice to follow the cultural norm of the day.

3.  We must be careful to always be looking at ways in which we are ultimately being disobedient to our LORD when, in fact, we truly believe we are walking with him. Our conscience may be clear because of the context and culture in which we live.  In Solomon’s case, his sacrificing in the high places, seems to be a cultural practice accepted as the norm since the Temple hadn’t been built yet.

So, the question might be, “What is it that is culturally acceptable by me and the Christian culture around me that when I stand before the LORD it will truly be evident that I, and my Christian brothers and sisters, have fallen short of the glory of God?

Here are some areas/arenas that come to mind as I type:

• Marriage-Divorce & Remarriage - Is He truly pleased with us?
• What we listen to…
• What we watch…TV, Movies, etc.
• Whom we vote for…Democrat, Republican, Green or Libertarian
• How we spend our money…Vacations, Houses, Clothing, Furniture…stuff!

This is just a list to get your mind thinking, pondering and considering the impact of God’s Word and the ministry of the Holy Spirit on the life of a child of God.

Finally…

4.  Being obedient to the LORD no matter what and choosing the right path will often result in unseen and unexpected blessing from God. I think that is what the David was trying to tell is in Psalm 37:4…

“Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

We may often feel like Solomon, truly loving the LORD while struggling with a particular sin.  The truly important question for us today is this…

• Even with your sinful struggles, Is your arrow pointing in the right direction?

A Visit to the Doctor

By popular demand, here are two clean videos that will get your laughter going…

I hope that you all have an enjoyable and restful weekend…and don’t overdo it on the pop tarts…

Enjoy

Doctor Visit

Pop Tarts

Announcing “Operation Ufa - 2009″

In 2005 Don Ott and I had the privilege to travel to Ufa, Bashkortostan, in partnership with Slavic Gospel Association, to teach a Homiletics (Preaching) class to the National Pastors and Missionaries and to look at beginning a relationship with the regional church there. What we found was a remnant church that is eager to share the Gospel with their Muslim neighbors and desiring our partnership and help.

In January of 2007 we continued to develop our partnership by sending a team. Pastor Matthew Blevins and I team taught another class on Homiletics, and our team was able to spend time serving at the Street Kids Ministry, in orphanages and at the Sterlatimak Rehab Center. Add to that the Youth Workers Conference that Matthew taught and the times we spent in the local churches, our team was very busy and able to further develop important relationships for the purpose of building up the kingdom.

That following summer we also sent three of our College Students to jointly serve with our Nor-Cal Antioch Coalition Camp Team. Their hard work and testimony continued to reinforce our commitment to support and equip the body of Christ in Bashkortostan.

Our partnership in this region has continued this summer through our own Jamie Atkinson who served for five weeks, assisting with the children’s ministries, in particular the summer camps.

Opportunity Knocks…

That brings us to our next opportunity. In Jan/Feb of 2009 I will be going to Ufa again to teach a seminary class on Homiletics to the pastors and missionaries.

In conjunction with our teaching ministry there is also an opportunity for 4-6 adults from our church family to join us on this trip to assist our Russian brothers and sisters in a number of ministry contexts.

• Street Kids Ministry
• Orphanage Ministries
• Rehab Center

This will be very similar to our successful 2007 ministry in Ufa, and will continue to be a great opportunity for our church to selflessly serve and equip the churches in the region of Bashkortostan while we still can.

If you are interested in joining us…

There will be an informational meeting on September 7th (Next week) after the 2nd service in Room 3. Also, please contact me, Pastor Rod.

Also, if you speak Russian, we could really use your help, so please seriously consider coming to the meeting and trusting God in this.

Trip Info…

• Dates: January 27th-February 10th (tentative)
• Cost: $3500 - $4000 – Trust God here!
• Who: Regular attending College Students/Adults
• Need: Passport secured by October 15th.

Web Blogg can be fount at… (www.norcalantioch.wordpress.com)

More information about our efforts in Russia can be found at the www.norcalantioch.wordpress.com blog.

Happy Thanksgiving - Russian Style

This video is a blast from the past when Don and I went to Ufa and taught the brothers.  We made this video with their help to provide the content of our “announcements” for that Sunday’s service.  I am the goofy one on the right — just in case you are wondering…

Enjoy…

A Loving Rant…

This afternoon I was driving in my car for just a few minutes and decided to check in on the local Christian Radio station.  Now, usually in the afternoon the programs tend to be more along the lines of “Live Call-In We want to help you” programs rather than the preaching and teaching of God’s Word.

Well, I am listening to the two commentators talking and one begins to praise a new book having to do with “brain power” that talks about the findings and testings of the brain and what makes a healthy brain.  He stressed that the conclusion of the book was that our brains are healthier when we are “loving ourselves for who we are and loving others for who they are.”  Then, they both began to talk about how that is exactly what God teaches in His Word.  How amazing it is that man spends all this time and effort and comes to a conclusion that God has been teaching all along.  Now, you have heard about righteous anger, well, I let out a righteous “you’ve got to be joking!“  when I heard those comments.

Nowhere in Scripture are we told to “love ourselves for who we are.”  No, in fact, the Word of God teaches that it is the love of self that is our problem.  God doesn’t say, “Rod, your problem, and the reason that your brain isn’t healthy is because you just don’t love yourself for who you are.”  You won’t find it.  Now, certainly, Scripture does tell us to love one another, but self love is always portrayed in Scripture as a sinful attitude.  It is selfishness, pride and results in me not loving my brother and sister, neighbor and enemy.

The confusion comes from a weak and twisted interpretation of Ephesians 5:28-29 where Paul says…

28So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, Ephesians 5:28 through Ephesians 5:29 (NASB)

There is no command here to love ourselves.  No, Paul simply assumes the natural fleshly reality that we do love our own bodies, that we naturally care for them and give ample attention them.  So, in the same way we husbands should love our wives.

Now, allow me to nit-pick for the purpose of Biblical clarity.  God does want us to have a healthy self-image, however, that image comes through looking at ourselves through the clear lens of God’s Word, not from bringing psychological trends into Scriptural understanding and then creating an interpretation that the Scripture is not teaching.  The Word of God tells us that we are enemies of God, blind, naked, helpless and defiled.  That we are walking in darkness and are miserable and desperate for a Savior.  Enter God, who gives His grace to those whom He, by His good and perfect drawing, calls to Himself through the shed blood of His Son, Jesus Christ on the Cross.  We who are now His children are still struggling with the flesh, but we have been clothed with the righteousness of Christ.  We can certainly love Him, and we should.  We can hunger and thirst to grow in our relationship with Him and we must.  But, to love self is to digress, is to return to old ways of thinking, to legitimize our selfish, self-love desires.  It is to return to sin.

So, what Scripture does teach is that a healthy view of self that is fashioned and shaped by a clear understanding of what God teaches in His Word will bring health to your walk and will give you freedom to live and grow for the glory of God.

We must be careful to not allow such unbiblical teaching concerning self-love to be in our diet.  It creates all sorts of confusion and distorts the joy of who we are in Christ as being central.  We must think through what we hear from well meaning but unbiblical teachers on the radio.

Rant over…sheesh….!!

Paradox and Chicken Pox…

Children are truly a gift from God.  I have been blessed with four:  Vanessa (17), Gavin (14), Deanna (12) and Adam (9).  As I am sure you can imagine, our home can get quite noisy and active at times.  Thankfully God has graced us with a home that has a small yard in the back and a cul-de-sac in the front where on a regular basis one can see children racing around on bikes, skateboards, skates or chasing various balls of differing shapes and sizes.

Of course, with children there are the inevitable struggles that they must face.  Well, last night we were visited by Mr. Chicken and his little family of pox.  So, my Adam is now breaking out in a rash and I am sure that my daughter Deanna will soon follow.  So, I ask for prayer and encouragement for my wife who will be spending much of her time serving these little gifts from God over the course of the next week or so.

Somehow, just writing this and thinking about it makes me itch all over.  I must be having flashbacks to my childhood…

But, let me ask you  a question…

Have you  every stopped and thought that God, through His Word, speaks to us with the metaphor of children?  It seems that He wants us to be a child in one passage, and then, in the next passage He warns to not be children.  Let me give you an example of what I am talking about…

In Matthew 19 we read that parents (lit. some, i.e. parents) were bringing children to Jesus so that He could touch them and bless them.  This was a common practice.  Parents often sought the blessing of their local rabbi’s.  What is interesting is that the Disciples rebuked the parents.  Now we don’t know exactly why, but it could have been because they were simply trying to protect their Master - good intentions, but a bad move on their part.  It may have been much more sinister, however, because Jesus gets righteously angry with the Disciples (Mark 10:14) for their behavior and says…

But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁵“Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” ¹⁶And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them. (Mark 10:14-16)

So, Jesus is telling us through this passage that in order for us to receive the kingdom of God we must enter it like a child.  But what does that mean?  What He is telling us that only those who possess childlike qualities like absolute dependence and simple trust can turn from their sin and rest upon Him alone.

Then, in the book of Ephesians the Apostle Paul warns us to not be children saying…

… we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; Ephesians 4:14 (NASB)

So, on one had we “are” to be like children and on the other hand we “are not.”  Is this really a paradox?  Well, no, not at all.  Both Paul and Jesus are using children and their behavior as a metaphor, but in two different ways.  Jesus is encouraging us to be childlike and Paul is warning us to not be childish.  The two are vastly different.

• Believers must be childlike - they must trust and believe God without hesitation, just like little kids trust their parents.

• Believers must not be childish - never having anything more than an elementary knowledge of the faith.  Young and old alike must be growing in their knowledge of God, trusting Him like a child while maturing in their doctrinal comprehension.

Even Peter, impulsive and childish as he could often be, exhorts the church with the following words…

¹Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, ²like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, ³if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. (1 Peter 2:1-3)

Just like the chicken pox, as children we will face natural struggles as we grow.  They are inevitable, however, God wants us to keep growing toward maturity, avoiding childishness and embracing a childlike trust and dependence on Him.

So, grab His hand and trust Him without hesitation…

Medal Count

You know, I love the Olympics. I have been watching it this year and enjoying all the drama, the amazing accomplishments and the heartbreaking endings to people’s dreams. Is it just me or is there some difference in philosophy as to how to view the medals in the Olympics? Here is what I mean, if you are to look at the medal count on, let’s say, ESPN you will find on the top of the list the USA with a total of 98 medals (as of today, Aug. 21)

USA	29	35	34	98
CHN	46	15	22	83
RUS	16	16	19	51

Now, if you go to a European site this is what you will see…

Pos	Country				Total
1	China	46	15	22	83
2	United States	29	35	34	98
3	Great Britain	17	12	11	40
4	Russia	16	16	19	51
5	Australia	11	13	14	38

Now, do you see a difference? Is it really about the “total” medals won or is it about who has the most “gold” medals?

Well, if you are an American, you want to save face in light of China’s 46 medals, so, you will focus on the total medal count. It’s the typical “bigger is better” American thinking that is so prevalent in our culture. We always feel that we have to be #1, so we will tend to spin the facts to make us look good.

If you are China or even Great Britain, you want your Gold medal count to lift you up the ladder of prestige. Now, I know, the Olympics is still ongoing and there are still medals to be handed out, but do we really care about the total count? Do we care how many Gold’s, Silvers or Bronz’s are heading home to the USA? In my humble opinion, I think that it is best to take each sport or event individually and give credit to the participants, whatever country they are from, for their hard work and accomplishments.

Think about it, how much coverage have you see of Olympic activity taking place between two teams that are not the USA or likely to play the USA. Sometimes I really like to watch the obscure events, the ones that we here in the USA don’t specialize in: Badminton, Handball, Ping-Pong, etc.

Well, these are my observations…What do you think?